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Founded | 2015[1] |
---|---|
Founders | |
Website |
www |
Twelve is a chemical technology company based in Berkeley, California. [1] They develop technology to convert CO2 into profitable chemicals, such as plastics and transportation fuels. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Currently, the company uses metal catalysts to produce synthetic gas ( syngas), methane, and ethylene. [8]
Originally launched under the name Obtainium in 2014, [9] and later known as Opus 12, [10] Twelve was officially founded in 2015 by Dr. Kendra Kuhl, Dr. Etosha Cave, and Nicholas Flanders. [1] The company was part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's first Cyclotron Road cohort, an incubator program that aids in the creation of environmentally beneficial companies. [11] [8] [12] Since then, it has won multiple awards including the Keeling Curve prize, [13] Ocean Exchange's WW Orcelle award, [14] the Roddenberry prize, [15] and Forbes' Change the World competition. [16] [17] In 2021, Twelve received $57 million in series A funding; [10] the company has also received funding through SBIR grants for projects involving CO2 conversion. This includes generating products such as carbon monoxide, polyethylene, ethanol, ethylene, methane, and jet fuel. [18]
In June 2022, Twelve announced $130 million in Series B funding with investment from DCVC and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. [19]
Twelve has also been featured on the television show Inside Bill's Brain as a company providing a potential solution to greenhouse gas emissions. [20]
Nicholas Flanders describes the company's technology as "industrial photosynthesis" to create jet fuel and diesel from carbon dioxide. [21] [22] Their technology has been shown to convert CO2 from raw biogas into carbon neutral methane. [23] [24]
Twelve utilizes polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis, which splits apart water molecules into its component pieces (O2, electrons, and hydrogen ions) via the application of electricity. By adding a catalyst to the cathode, they are able to split up CO2 into CO and O2. [25]
In February 2020, Twelve partnered with Mercedes and Trinseo to create the world's first C-pillar made with polycarbonate from CO2 electrolysis. [26]
In June 2020, the company partnered with SoCalGas and PG&E to advance their technology for use with CO2 present in biogas, which comes from sources such as landfills, sewage, and dairy farms. [27] This gas, produced by the anaerobic breakdown of wastes, contains roughly 60% methane and 40% CO2; testing is being performed with the goal of achieving high conversion efficiency for long periods of time. [28]
In September 2021 Twelve partnered with LanzaTech to create polypropylene, a commonly used plastic which is traditionally produced from fossil fuels; this is the first time that polypropylene was made from CO2. [29]
Twelve plans to scale up their technology to an industrial-sized shipping container, which would enable them to produce larger quantities of product. [8] [25] [12]
This article has multiple issues. Please help
improve it or discuss these issues on the
talk page. (
Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Founded | 2015[1] |
---|---|
Founders | |
Website |
www |
Twelve is a chemical technology company based in Berkeley, California. [1] They develop technology to convert CO2 into profitable chemicals, such as plastics and transportation fuels. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Currently, the company uses metal catalysts to produce synthetic gas ( syngas), methane, and ethylene. [8]
Originally launched under the name Obtainium in 2014, [9] and later known as Opus 12, [10] Twelve was officially founded in 2015 by Dr. Kendra Kuhl, Dr. Etosha Cave, and Nicholas Flanders. [1] The company was part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's first Cyclotron Road cohort, an incubator program that aids in the creation of environmentally beneficial companies. [11] [8] [12] Since then, it has won multiple awards including the Keeling Curve prize, [13] Ocean Exchange's WW Orcelle award, [14] the Roddenberry prize, [15] and Forbes' Change the World competition. [16] [17] In 2021, Twelve received $57 million in series A funding; [10] the company has also received funding through SBIR grants for projects involving CO2 conversion. This includes generating products such as carbon monoxide, polyethylene, ethanol, ethylene, methane, and jet fuel. [18]
In June 2022, Twelve announced $130 million in Series B funding with investment from DCVC and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. [19]
Twelve has also been featured on the television show Inside Bill's Brain as a company providing a potential solution to greenhouse gas emissions. [20]
Nicholas Flanders describes the company's technology as "industrial photosynthesis" to create jet fuel and diesel from carbon dioxide. [21] [22] Their technology has been shown to convert CO2 from raw biogas into carbon neutral methane. [23] [24]
Twelve utilizes polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis, which splits apart water molecules into its component pieces (O2, electrons, and hydrogen ions) via the application of electricity. By adding a catalyst to the cathode, they are able to split up CO2 into CO and O2. [25]
In February 2020, Twelve partnered with Mercedes and Trinseo to create the world's first C-pillar made with polycarbonate from CO2 electrolysis. [26]
In June 2020, the company partnered with SoCalGas and PG&E to advance their technology for use with CO2 present in biogas, which comes from sources such as landfills, sewage, and dairy farms. [27] This gas, produced by the anaerobic breakdown of wastes, contains roughly 60% methane and 40% CO2; testing is being performed with the goal of achieving high conversion efficiency for long periods of time. [28]
In September 2021 Twelve partnered with LanzaTech to create polypropylene, a commonly used plastic which is traditionally produced from fossil fuels; this is the first time that polypropylene was made from CO2. [29]
Twelve plans to scale up their technology to an industrial-sized shipping container, which would enable them to produce larger quantities of product. [8] [25] [12]